Ronald Thorpe joined WNET as Vice President and Director of Education in July 2003.  In this position he oversees educational activities that enhance and extend the productions and broadcasts of WNET’s subsidiaries, THIRTEEN and WLIW21. 

At WNET and at EBC, Thorpe has been responsible for work related to a Ready to Teach grant from the U.S. Department of Education, a variety of new online resources for New York State schools, outreach initiatives connected to all of the station’s national productions, and the annual Celebration of Teaching and Learning, a two-day professional development conference serving more than 8,000 teachers and administrators each year.

Between 1990 and 2003, Thorpe served at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation (Program Officer), the Rhode Island Foundation (Senior Vice President for Program), and the Wallace Foundation (Senior Program Officer).  He began his career as a teacher of Latin and Greek and Assistant to the Headmaster at Phillips Academy (1974-1980) and then as Dean of Faculty and Chief Academic Officer at Kingswood-Oxford School (1982-1990).  Throughout his career, he has focused on professional development of teachers.  A graduate of Harvard College, Thorpe earned his Ed.M. and Ed.D. in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.  He is the author of numerous articles and commentaries on education, technology, and philanthropy, and is the editor of The First Year As Principal (Heinemann, 1995).